Fuji Miki’s first introduction to curling was in Midway, a border town in the West Kootenays, when his family was interned during the Second World War. At the war’s conclusion he moved to South Burnaby where he resided for 50 years.
After a successful playing career, in which he played lead for BC men’s champion Glen Pierce in 1979, and second for Pierce when they won the Canadian mixed championship in 1982, Miki took up coaching. One of his first coaching successes was to guide a junior men’s team that included his son Bryan (a 2017 Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame inductee) at second and Pierce’s son Brent at skip to a 1987 provincial championship.
That year he came into contact with the Japanese Olympic committee at a curling clinic during the world championship in Vancouver. Miki eventually coached Japanese women’s teams for 16 years through four Olympics (Salt Lake City, Torino, Vancouver and Sochi). Miki would reside in Japan during the curling season helping to build a program that has become a force in international curling, especially on the women’s side.
He would also coach Japanese men’s teams when they came to Canada to compete on the cashspiel circuit. During their stays, the teams would frequently be based at Miki’s home club, the Royal City Curling Club in New Westminster. Even after his international coaching career concluded, Miki continued to coach at Royal City and even coached his grandson, Joshua, at the 2022 Canadian Junior Curling Championship.
